"Hump Smarter Hotline" Puts You in the Mood to Save Endangered Species

TUCSON, Ariz.— Just in time for the busiest breeding night of the year, the Center for Biological Diversity is unveiling the “Hump Smarter Hotline,” an irreverent, toll-free service urging callers to think twice — once about endangered species and again about human overpopulation — before taking an unprotected roll in the sheets on New Year’s Eve. The hotline is the latest project from the Center’s 7 Billion and Counting campaign, which distributed 100,000 Endangered Species Condoms this fall as the world’s human population hit 7 billion.

The hotline — 1-800-628-2399 — features three options: “Press 1 if you’re already naked, press 2 if you still have your pants still on, and press 3 if, well, you really have no shot at getting lucky tonight.” Callers get sage, species-saving advice on how best to deal with their immediate situation — and avoid pushing polar bears, panthers and other imperiled wildlife one step closer to extinction.

“Getting lucky on New Year’s Eve shouldn’t mean sending some creature into extinction. So, for those on the verge of accidental procreation this New Year’s Eve, the Hump Smarter team is here to help,” said Amy Harwood, the Center’s 7 Billion and Counting campaign coordinator.

The Center is the nation’s only conservation group with a full-time campaign focused on human overpopulation and the effect it has on imperiled species. In 2010 and 2011, the Center has distributed nearly a half-million of its wildly popular Endangered Species Condoms to thousands of volunteer distributors around the United States. The Hump Smarter Hotline — which directs callers to the condoms project — is the Center’s latest effort to raise awareness about the plight of endangered species facing loss of habitat, pollution, global warming and other effects of overpopulation.

“Half of all pregnancies in the U.S. are unintended and certainly a fair number of those happen on New Year’s Eve,” said Harwood. “The Florida panther, Lange’s metalmark butterfly and loggerhead sea turtles are just a few of the species being pushed toward extinction by the world’s rapidly growing population. One night of revelry shouldn’t mean creatures, large and small, are pushed closer to extinction.”

The Center launched its 7 Billion and Counting campaign in September 2011 to raise awareness of global population growth and its connection to the accelerating extinction of species. As part of the campaign, the Center is continuing the successful Endangered Species Condoms project, producing a short video series featuring species facing down the reality of population growth, and pursuing other creative media projects support the use of family planning to make the best decisions for protection of the planet’s endangered species.